Big West Conference

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Big West Conference
Big West Conference
Data
Classification NCAA Division I-AAA
Established 1969
Members 9
Sports fielded 17 (8 men's, 9 women's)
Region West Coast
States 1 - California
Past names Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Headquarters Irvine, California

The Big West Conference (BWC) is an NCAA-affiliated Division I major college athletic conference that formerly sponsored Division I-A American football. Due to its past successes in the NCAA's men's college basketball tournament, the Big West is often considered to be a mid-major conference.

Contents

[edit] Background

The history of the conference is linked to that of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), which was founded in 1969 and renamed the Big West Conference in 1988. The Big West Conference dropped sponsorship of football at the end of the 2000-2001 season, but continues to actively sponsor other sports.

Beginning in fall of 2001, six of the seven remaining football-playing members parted company with the BWC: Arkansas State, Idaho, New Mexico State, and North Texas joined the Sun Belt Conference; Boise State joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC); and Utah State became an independent before joining the Sun Belt Conference in fall 2003. Idaho and Utah State retained Big West membership in sports other than football until both officially left for the WAC on July 1, 2005. The departure of Idaho and Utah State leaves the Big West a California-only conference; of these schools, five are in Greater Los Angeles, two others are just to the north or west of that area, and only Pacific is outside of Southern California. This will change once UC Davis, in the Sacramento area, becomes a full member. As such, the Big West basically returns to its roots, as the PCAA had been a California-only conference until they admitted Utah State in 1978.

The seventh football-playing member, Cal Poly, stayed in the Big West for other sports and became a Division I-AA independent before joining the new Great West Football Conference in 2004.

[edit] Current members (and years joined)

Institution Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment Joined
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California 1901 Public (California State University system) 17,683 1996
California State University, Fullerton Fullerton, California 1957 Public (California State University system) 35,040 1974
California State University, Northridge Northridge, California 1958 Public (California State University system) 33,000 2001
California State University, Long Beach Long Beach, California 1949 Public (California State University system) 39,863 1969
University of the Pacific Stockton, California 1851 Private/Non-sectarian 6,268 1971
University of California, Davis Davis, California 1905 Public (University of California system) 22,618 2007
University of California, Irvine Irvine, California 1965 Public (University of California system) 24,362 1977
University of California, Riverside Riverside, California 1907 Public (University of California system) 16,622 2001
University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California 1944 Public (University of California system) 20,559 1976
Teams

[edit] Traveling Partners

[edit] Football Affiliation

[edit] Future members

[edit] Charter (original) members

[edit] Former members

[edit] Current conference affiliations (for football) of former members

[edit] Sports

As of fall 2002, the BWC sponsors intercollegiate competition in men’s baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field, and women’s volleyball.

[edit] Champions

Men's Basketball Champions
Season Regular Season Champion Tournament Champion
1970 Long Beach State (10-0) N/A
1971 Long Beach State (10-0) N/A
1972 Long Beach State (10-2) N/A
1973 Long Beach State (10-2) N/A
1974 Long Beach State (12-0) N/A
1975 Long Beach State (8-2) N/A
1976 Cal State Fullerton (6-4) San Diego State
1977 Long Beach State (9-3) Long Beach State
1978 Fresno State (11-3) Cal State Fullerton
1979 Pacific (11-3) Pacific
1980 Utah State (11-2) San Jose State
1981 Fresno State (12-2) Fresno State
1982 Fresno State(12-2) Fresno State
1983 UNLV (15-1) UNLV
1984 UNLV (16-2) Fresno State
1985 UNLV (17-1) UNLV
1986 UNLV (16-2) UNLV
1987 UNLV (18-0) UNLV
1988 UNLV (15-3) Utah State
1989 UNLV (16-2) UNLV
1990 UNLV (16-2) UNLV
1991 UNLV (18-0) UNLV
1992 UNLV (18-0) New Mexico State
1993 New Mexico State (15-3) Long Beach State
1994 New Mexico State (12-6) New Mexico State
1995 Utah State (14-4) Long Beach State
1996 Long Beach State (12-6) San Jose State
1997 Pacific (13-3) Pacific
1998 Pacific (14-2) Utah State
1999 Boise State/UCSB (12-4) New Mexico State
2000 Utah State (16-0) Utah State
2001 UC-Irvine (15-1) Utah State
2002 Utah State/UC-Irvine (13-5) UCSB
2003 UCSB (14-4) Utah State
2004 Utah State/Pacific (17-1) Pacific
2005 Pacific (18-0) Utah State
2006 Pacific (14-0) Pacific
Football Champions
Year University
1969 San Diego State
1970 Long Beach State & San Diego State
1971 Long Beach State
1972 San Diego State
1973 San Diego State
1974 San Diego State
1975 San Jose State
1976 San Jose State
1977 Fresno State
1978 San Jose State and Utah State
1979 Utah State
1980 Long Beach State
1981 San Jose State
1982 Fresno State
1983 Cal State Fullerton
1984 Cal State Fullerton
1985 Fresno State
1986 San Jose State
1987 San Jose State
1988 Fresno State
1989 Fresno State
1990 San Jose State
1991 Fresno State and San Jose State
1992 Nevada
1993 Southwestern Louisiana and Utah State
1994 Southwestern Louisiana, Nevada, and UNLV
1995 Nevada
1996 Nevada and Utah State
1997 Nevada and Utah State
1998 Idaho
1999 Boise State
2000 Boise State

[edit] Conference Arenas

Only Cal Poly has a football program. Their football stadium is called Mustang Stadium, capacity of 8,500.

School Basketball Arena Capacity
Cal Poly Mott Gym 3,032
Cal State Fullerton Titan Gym 3,500
Cal State Northridge Matadome 1,600
Long Beach State Walter Pyramid 5,021
Pacific Alex G. Spanos Center 6,150
UC Irvine Bren Events Center 4,984
UC Riverside UC Riverside Student Recreation Center 3,168
UC Santa Barbara UCSB Events Center (commonly known as the Thunderdome) 6,000

[edit] External link